


Five Days to Zero Hour

by sg_wonderland



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-29
Updated: 2015-07-29
Packaged: 2018-04-11 21:54:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4453784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sg_wonderland/pseuds/sg_wonderland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How did SG-1 escape from that secret base?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Days to Zero Hour

**Author's Note:**

> Just a few naughty words.

“Jack’s just gonna shit.” So speaks one of the world’s most gifted linguists and the SGC’s most senior civilian consultant. The one who is not staring an annual evaluation in the teeth. Actually, that’s not true; he gets evaluated just like the rest of us. The difference is that he doesn’t really give a damn how his evaluation turns out since he has no rank to fret about. He’s gone as far up the civilian rank as he can go without becoming base commander.

Me, on the other hand….

Not for the first time, I interrupt his musings. “Daniel, if you don’t shut up, the General isn’t going to get the chance to kill you.”

Even though we are in our second day of being trapped in a secret base with no apparent way to get out, he still manages to grin. “Yes, ma’am. Or should I call you Colonel Carter?”

“Perhaps, Daniel Jackson, it is unwise to tease Colonel Carter while she is under the strain of our current situation.”

“Thank you, Teal’c.” It’s nice to have someone with a level head. “Daniel, I don’t know if you understand how serious this situation is.”

He hauls himself to his feet. “Oh, Ba’al could show up any minute and kill us in his usual diabolical fashion. Repeatedly. We could starve to death. Or die of asphyxiation or dehydration. Which really seems a shame, since the door to the chamber will open up in, oh,” he flips the cover on his watch, “about seventy-two hours. Give or take.”

Teal’c and I both stare at him. “How do you know that?”

“Because it says so, right here.” A careless hand flicks at one of the walls. “It takes five days for the moon to be in the correct position to light the crystal that opens the door.”

I bite my lip, steady my voice before I speak. “How long have you known that?”

“Oh, ever since I translated that wall this morning, so a couple of hours, give or take.”

“Why didn’t you say so?”

“Because when I tried to tell you, you told me to shut up.” He is infuriatingly logical.

“Why is it that when General O’Neill tells you to shut up, you don’t?”

He shrugs. “I only remember him actually telling me to shut up once and if you remember, I did shut up.” He sidles past me, almost speaking to himself. “And if you remember, I was right that time, too.” His exit leaves Teal’c and me staring at each other.

“Unfortunately, Colonel Carter, Daniel Jackson is most correct. He was right upon that occasion.”

“Don’t remind me.” Right now, Daniel seems to be way ahead on points on the being-right thing. And I know that I should go in there and apologize to Daniel, but that’s just out of the realm of possibility right now. I can’t even begin to list all the ways I’d fucked this mission up. I left Reynolds watching the gate instead of watching our backs, which was exactly what the general wanted them to do. I’ve either yelled at or ignored Daniel because I’m scared and uncertain if I’m doing the right thing.

Now that I know we’re getting out of here, I can make a few plans. We’ve already mapped out most of the rooms in the base, there are only fourteen of them so it wasn’t hard. “Okay, we stick to these three rooms. We’ll take turns doing the watch, four hours each.” We’d already designated one room as the latrine, especially since Daniel pointed out that was it’s intended function. It had a working toilet, always a bonus and running water, which could prove to be a lifesaver if our water doesn’t last.

“Perhaps we should let Daniel Jackson sleep first.” Unspoken goes the suggestion that I give Daniel some space.

“Thanks, Teal’c. I think that’s a good idea. I’ll take first watch.” He nods and strolls into the designated sleeping area. I resist the urge to walk to the doorway when I hear the soft murmurs of conversation.

And I’ve just given myself four hours of solitude to review my performance as team leader.

*

First mistake, not taking back-up when it was offered. Although, I don’t know how much difference that would have made. Instead of the three of us being stuck, there might have been four more down here. Our current situation might not be so bad, after all. But then again, Reynolds might not have been standing in the exact spot we were in-and what are the chances of being right in the middle of a ring transport?-and might have been able to report that we were ringed out. I’m sure the search has been nothing less than frantic.

Second, not taking help when it was offered. I set Daniel to translating walls basically to keep him out of my hair, with no real hope that he would find anything while Teal’c and I tried to figure out how to blow the walls. I should have instructed him specifically to look for something that had even the vaguest reference to an exit. Not doing that is what’s known in the military as wasting valuable resources. Not that the general hadn’t made the same mistake in the past, because he has. But I should have learned from his mistakes, instead of making his same ones over and over. That was one thing you could say about General O’Neill, he rarely made the same mistake twice; he learned and then he moved on. Mark of a good leader. And something I’m not yet.

I take a notebook out of my pocket and begin listing what I did wrong, what I could have done differently, what I should have done, what I’m going to put into a report. If we’re stuck here for five days, I need to start making a clear time-line now so I’ll be able to remember what we did on which day. I slip the notebook back in my vest when I hear someone. To my dismay, it’s Daniel.

“Daniel, it’s not your watch,” I look at my watch, amazed. I’ve evidently made lots of mistakes. Four hours worth.

“Teal’c’s tired, I just hated to wake him.”

“Yes, it’s exhausting trying to blow up Goa’uld strongholds.” 

“I think that’s something that still comes as a surprise to him that he gets tired like the rest of us. Must be a helluva an adjustment.” He muses as he slides down the wall beside me. “What I wouldn’t give for a cushion, these floors are murder on my ass.”

“I’ll requisition a hammock for the next mission.” I play along with him.

“Oh,” he groans. “Wouldn’t that be wonderful? And it wouldn’t take up much space in our packs.”

We sit in silence for a few minutes before I blurt out, “Daniel, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, Sam.” He reassures me.

“No, Daniel, it’s not okay. I shouldn’t have belittled your contribution to the team. After all these years, I should know better.” He sits in silence, because he knows I’m right. “Now I know why the general went gray-haired overnight.”

“Well, the good thing is, it’s just five days. At least it’s not three weeks in a palace by the beach.”

“There is that.” The general nearly went nuts with three weeks of non-activity; I can’t begin to imagine how these five days are affecting him. “I’ve made such a mess of this mission, Daniel.”

“Wanna know what I think?”

“Please.” Might as well take my medicine now.

“I think your problem is that you don’t trust Colonel Carter, leader of SG-1. Oh, you trust Dr. Carter, physicist and solver of all the world’s problems. Re-route the power source on a naquadah reactor? No problem. Replace burned out crystals and get sub-light engines operational? Yawn, yawn, do that in my sleep. But you don’t trust your leadership. I think it’s a hell of a lot easier to hold the lives of a million people you don’t know than it is to hold the lives of two people you love.” 

He’s dead right; if I were commanding anyone but he and Teal’c, the decisions would come a lot easier. “And your suggestion would be?”

“Believe in yourself. Jack trusts you and I can tell you, he doesn’t give that out easily. And Teal’c and I trust you.” He gives me the full meal deal, the big eyes, the little smile, the winking dimple. Unbidden, I get a flash of Daniel lamenting having to break in another colonel. I never thought he’d be talking about me.

I frown at him. “Daniel, do you use that look on General O’Neill?”

He blinks slowly, innocently, flutters the lashes before wickedness shadows his face. “Quite often, in fact.”

I shake my head as I stand up to let him do his watch. “I don’t know why he hasn’t killed you before now.”

“Because he’s a sucker. If I could just learn to cry on cue, I’d get my way every time. Night, Sam.”

*

We all scurry so that we’re dressed up for the president. Daniel and Teal’c skid into the gate room seconds before the president. The general gives them both a frown, which Teal’c airily pretends not to see. And Daniel? Well, Daniel not only saw the frown, but is completely unmoved by it.

The president gives the expected speech. ‘Doing a great job’, ‘preserving the American way of life’, ‘sacrifice, honor.’ Then he stops to shake our hands. I don’t know what Daniel says to him but he’s still smiling when he leaves the gate room.

“Daniel,” the general places himself in front of him, preventing his departure, “I can’t believe you told the president a dirty joke.”

“What makes you think it was dirty?” Daniel is, once again, all innocence.

“I just know you, that’s all. And what language was that?”

“Hungarian. Mrs. Hartman’s family is from Budapest. And it wasn’t dirty.”

“It sounded dirty.”

“That’s because your ears are dirty.” With that, Daniel strolls out of the gate room. Teal’c gives a clear smirk at the general before following.

*

“Colonel Carter.” I jump as the general straddles the chair across from me. “What’s up?”

“Nothing, sir.” I wrap both hands around my mug of coffee.

“Then why haven’t you gone home, where I’m certain you can get a much better cup of coffee than that crap?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

He nods. “Shoot.”

“How do you do it? When you get in a situation that might get your team killed, how do you know what’s the right thing to do?”

He plants his chin in his palm. “There’s no easy answer to that. As a commanding officer, the worst thing you can do is second guess your command decisions. Sending your team off to get killed is something that you can’t always prevent.” His eyes get a faraway look that I instantly recognize. So long ago, when we left Daniel to die on Apophis’s ship. It was obvious that he’d concocted numerous scenarios where he could have, should have, saved Daniel. Only to find that Daniel saved himself.

“Is that why you left the field?”

“Yeah, ‘cause it’s so much easier to send a couple of dozen teams out than it is your own.”

I remember Daniel talking about the difference between being responsible for the lives of millions as opposed to being responsible for the lives of people you love. “What would have done, sir, if Ba’al really did have us?”

“I don’t know.” He’s surprisingly honest. And I realize he’s speaking to me not as a superior officer, but as one team leader to another. “I just hope it never comes to that.”

“I guess I’m not making much sense, sir.”

He rises, stretches. “Listen, Carter, the day that you think you have all the answers, is the day I promise I’ll jerk you out of the field. Go home, get some rest. It’ll look better tomorrow.”

“Good night, sir.” I leave the commissary a few minutes behind him, check on my team-I like the sound of that-make sure I know where they are before I head for home.


End file.
